Unable to boot after installing TrueNAS SCALE on HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen8

neko

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Joined
Jul 29, 2022
Messages
4
This is a report of what is currently known.
Here, "bootable" refers to whether or not GRUB boots up.

First, both the CORE and SCALE installers are bootable.
In the case of CORE, it is bootable after installation.
In the case of SCALE, it is bootable only if you upgrade from CORE to SCALE via ISO ("Install/Upgrade" > "Upgrade Install" > "Install in new boot environment"). It is not possible to boot after "Fresh Instal" and "Format the boot device".

These results suggest that the boot configuration, partitioning, etc. may be different when upgrading from CORE to SCALE via ISO using a specific procedure versus a clean install of SCALE.

The ultimate goal is to get GRUB up and running even with SCALE doing a clean install, but what you want to do as a must is to create a 16GB swap partition on the installer to the boot device and use SCALE (even by means of upgrading from CORE Worst case scenario is fine.)

The BIOS settings have not been changed from the bootable configuration in CORE, so that seems fine.
We have also confirmed that all of the above installation methods are successfully bootable on multiple other machines.

Similar threads include

Installer used
[CORE]
TrueNAS-13.0-U1.1.iso
[SCALE]
TrueNAS-SCALE-22.02.2.1.iso
TrueNAS-SCALE-22.02.2.iso
TrueNAS-SCALE-22.02.1.iso

Best regards.
 

neko

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Joined
Jul 29, 2022
Messages
4
I forgot to write something important.
On HPE ProLiant MicroServer Gen8, it will boot with a 16GB USB flash drive and SCALE.
What does not boot is a 256GB USB-attached SSD (bootable for CORE and those upgraded from CORE to SCALE via ISO using certain procedures).
 

ronny.a

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Jul 26, 2022
Messages
8
I am running TrueNAS SCALE on two HPE Microserver gen8 and I have installed SCALE directly (that is, never upgraded from CORE), so it certainly can be made to work. I have installed SCALE on an SSD attached to bay 5 (the cd/dvd slot) and I am using the micro SD card to chainload GRUB, so that the SD card boots first and then GRUB jumps to the GRUB bootloader on the SSD. I believe I found the guide to that here somewhere on this forum. I am not using the "hardware" RAID controller (it is really a software controller) in BIOS but instead the other one that I can't remember right now what it is called.

I am not using the internal USB port, that differs from your setup.

I can elaborate more on my setup but booting the HPE Microserver Gen8 can be tricky since it depends on what controller you are using for example. But perhaps booting from an SD card might be an option for you. It is only used for boot and the only thing on that card is GRUB, so I am not worried about wearing it out. I have upgraded SCALE (to SCALE) on one of my two machines and that works just fine and I can on the second GRUB screen see the previous installs. My first GRUB screen (on the SD card) is not touched.
 

danb35

Hall of Famer
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Aug 16, 2011
Messages
15,504
I don't have a lot of guidance about SCALE on a Gen8, but I had some trouble getting CORE running on one last year, also on a USB-connected SSD--neither of the two I had worked. The third attempt used the internal USB port, a (physically) small m.2 drive, and a USB-to-mSATA adapter, and it's been working well ever since. I also messed around with GRUB chain-loading the OS on hd5, and that worked, but I settled on this as the cleaner solution.
 

neko

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Joined
Jul 29, 2022
Messages
4
Thank you all for your replies.
To add to the information, my BIOS is set to AHCI and I have a 256GB SSD connected to the internal USB port.
It is puzzling that a clean install of SCALE on a 16GB USB stick can boot, but a clean install on a 256GB SSD cannot boot even though there is no difference in the partition configuration, grub.cfg, etc. That is what I am stuck on.
By the way, I am able to boot without chainloading.

I thought about a hardware compatibility problem, but that seems unlikely, since SCALE upgraded with a specific procedure is able to boot (= it is a problem that can be managed software-wise).
 

jgreco

Resident Grinch
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
18,680
返信ありがとうございます。
[etc]

Greetings -

Welcome to these forums.

Please note that the main forums are English language, and you are expected to post in English here. We have a section for International discussion that includes a Japanese section, and you may post in Japanese there. Supporting multiple languages in the main forums is untenable. If you do not speak English natively, please know that we're fine with machine-translated messages from services such as Google Translate. These don't always work well, but we will still definitely try to help you!

<mod note: post moved to Japanese language forum>
 

neko

Cadet
Joined
Jul 29, 2022
Messages
4
Greetings -

Welcome to these forums.

Please note that the main forums are English language, and you are expected to post in English here. We have a section for International discussion that includes a Japanese section, and you may post in Japanese there. Supporting multiple languages in the main forums is untenable. If you do not speak English natively, please know that we're fine with machine-translated messages from services such as Google Translate. These don't always work well, but we will still definitely try to help you!

<mod note: post moved to Japanese language forum>
The above was posted in error, please delete it (I reported it...)
The content is also strange as Japanese since it is the result of machine translation of English text.
 

luckyz0r

Cadet
Joined
May 17, 2022
Messages
7
Thank you all for your replies.
To add to the information, my BIOS is set to AHCI and I have a 256GB SSD connected to the internal USB port.
It is puzzling that a clean install of SCALE on a 16GB USB stick can boot, but a clean install on a 256GB SSD cannot boot even though there is no difference in the partition configuration, grub.cfg, etc. That is what I am stuck on.
By the way, I am able to boot without chainloading.

I thought about a hardware compatibility problem, but that seems unlikely, since SCALE upgraded with a specific procedure is able to boot (= it is a problem that can be managed software-wise).
did you found a way to boot from the ssd connected to the usb port?
I've installed truenas scale in the ssd disk connected to the internal usb port, but it not boot :/
 

alphamittal

Cadet
Joined
Apr 7, 2023
Messages
1
did you found a way to boot from the ssd connected to the usb port?
I've installed truenas scale in the ssd disk connected to the internal usb port, but it not boot :/
I have the exact same issue. I installed Truenas Scale on SSD (in an enclosure) connected to internal USB port. The system doesn't boot up. However if I use my SSD connected to ODD bay it works just fine.
PS:. I have zero knowledge on commands. I can just follow written guides. Trying to build my first ever NAS server ( which can house, home assistant, jelly fin and cloud storage)
 

GunbleR

Dabbler
Joined
Apr 6, 2018
Messages
10
Had the same problem.
installed on mirrored usb drives (i know its descuraged, but still...),
efi foot enabled in bios (couldnt find secure boot config).
machine - hp compaq elite 8300.
did manage to install core>scale.
 
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